Market Update: We break down the business implications, market impact, and expert insights related to Market Update: Business insights and impact on the UK economy – Full Analysis.
3. Financial performance
Turnover
Trading businesses were asked how their turnover in November 2025 compared with October 2025, excluding any seasonal trading.
Figure 1: 13% of trading businesses reported an increase in their turnover in November 2025 compared with the previous calendar month
Turnover increased, businesses currently trading, weighted by count, UK, 1 March 2022 to 30 November 2025
Source: Business Insights and Conditions Survey from the Office for National Statistics
Notes:
- Data are plotted in the middle of the period of each wave.
- For presentational purposes, some response options have been removed.
Download this chart Figure 1: 13% of trading businesses reported an increase in their turnover in November 2025 compared with the previous calendar month
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Around 1 in 8 (13%) trading businesses reported an increase in their turnover in November 2025 compared with the previous calendar month, broadly stable with October. In contrast, 28% reported a decrease in their turnover, up 2 percentage points from October, while 49% reported their turnover stayed the same.
For businesses with 10 or more employees, 19% reported an increase in their turnover, down 6 percentage points from October. Approximately a third (33%) reported a decrease in their turnover, up 6 percentage points from October and the highest proportion recorded since January 2025. 4 in 10 (40%) reported their turnover stayed the same.
The fall in proportion of businesses reporting an increase in turnover was caused by larger businesses. The proportion was broadly stable compared with the previous month for businesses with 0 to 9 employees (13%) but fell 10 percentage points for businesses with 250 or more employees (from 33% to 23%).
Turnover challenges
Trading businesses were asked what challenges, if any, were impacting their turnover in early December 2025.
Around a third (33%) of trading businesses reported that economic uncertainty was having an impact on their turnover, up 4 percentage points from early November 2025. This was the highest proportion reported since early October 2022. This has been the most reported challenge since early July 2022.
Other challenges reported included:
- cost of labour (22%), up 4 percentage points from early November 2025 and the highest proportion recorded since the question was introduced in April 2022
- cost of materials (21%), up 2 percentage points from early November 2025 but the highest proportion recorded since early May 2024
- competition (21%), broadly stable with early November 2025
Less than 3 in 10 (27%) trading businesses indicated that they were not currently experiencing any turnover challenges, the lowest proportion reported since January 2023.
For trading businesses with 10 or more employees, economic uncertainty was the most reported issue for the first time since October 2024, at 36%. This is up 4 percentage points from early October 2025 and is the highest proportion recorded since early April.
1 in 5 (20%) trading businesses with 10 or more employees indicated that they were not currently experiencing any turnover challenges in early December 2025.
Turnover expectations
Trading businesses were asked what their expectations were for their turnover in January 2026.
Figure 2: 12% of trading businesses reported that they expect an increase in their turnover in January 2026
Turnover expectations, businesses currently trading, weighted by count, UK, 1 April 2022 to 31 January 2026
Source: Business Insights and Conditions Survey from the Office for National Statistics
Notes:
- Caution should be taken when interpreting expectations questions as the employees responding on behalf of businesses may not have full oversight of all their business’s future expectations.
- Data are plotted in the middle of the period of each wave.
Download this chart Figure 2: 12% of trading businesses reported that they expect an increase in their turnover in January 2026
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Around 1 in 8 (12%) trading businesses expect an increase in their turnover in January 2026. This is broadly stable compared with expectations for December 2025 and is in line with similar movements seen in January of previous years.
A quarter (25%) of trading businesses reported that they expect a decrease in their turnover in January 2026, broadly stable compared with expectations for December 2025. The accommodation and food service industry reported the highest proportion expecting a decrease (53%), which is up 34 percentage points from expectations for December 2025. This is substantially larger than the 18 percentage point increase seen a year ago (20% in December 2024 to 39% in January 2025), but is similar to that observed two years ago (31%).
Further details on financial performance, including all response options broken down by industry and size band, are available in our accompanying dataset.